Pressure Cooking

A few years ago my husband and I sat by our Christmas tree, ready to exchange gifts. He had a large wrapped box ready to give me, and prefaced it by saying “this is a gift you never knew you wanted.” I found it odd because I was pretty sure I wanted a David Yurman bracelet. Alas, the gift was an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker.

At first I was very intimidated by the device. There really weren’t a lot of cookbooks or resources that I found helpful. I’ve spent nearly three years playing, tweaking and adjusting recipes for this appliance. Now, it has become something I absolutely love and use multiple times a week. It has simplified getting dinner on the table. I am not an expert with it, and I am definitely not a foodie. (I would be satisfied by nachos at a baseball game) However, I have worked with my Instant Pot a great deal, and have learned from many successes and failures. I’ve never been able to find many Instant Pot recipes that I liked, so I began adapting old favorites and coming up with new ideas. I wanted a place to share some of my favorite Instant Pot Successes.

What is so special about the Instant Pot? You can check out all the reviews online, but basically it allows for very quick cooking. It can also be used as a rice cooker or slow cooker and it has a great sauté feature.

I love slow cooking but sometimes I simply can’t put something on super early in the morning. And sometimes I can’t be home to tend to it after 4-5 hours are up. Most of my Instant Pot recipes can be done in an hour or less, and they need absolutely no tending-to while they are cooking. I often spend 5-10 minutes assembling a recipe and then go play with my kids for 30 minutes while the food cooks. I hope you enjoy these recipes!